Lee Miller. Photographies

“The term muse is often used to refer to Lee Miller. This word irritates me to no end […]. For me, Lee Miller is a living force, a personality to be reckoned with.”
Kate Winslet.

The book draws a fascinating portrait of a free and committed woman. Introduced to photography at an early age, Lee Miller perfected her art in Paris, where she rubbed shoulders with the Surrealists and avant-garde artists such as Jean Cocteau, Picasso and Man Ray, with whom she collaborated for many years. After opening her own photography studio in New York, making a name for herself as a photographer, she traveled to the Middle East and Europe before becoming a war reporter. It was also during this period that she took many of her most emblematic photographs.

Often reduced to the role of muse and femme fatale, this book reclaims the artist’s place and importance in the history of photography. Far removed from posing sessions and fashion shoots, the book reveals a committed, reckless photographer with a daring and innovative eye, even going so far as to show the horror of war and concentration camps. Published to coincide with the release of the film Lee (2023), it opens with a foreword by Kate Winslet, who portrays the photographer on screen.

With this book, which marks a milestone in the knowledge of Lee Miller’s work, delpire & co reaffirms its commitment to women artists, following in the footsteps Vivian Maier revealed by Ann Marks (2021), Salut à toi, Lionne noire by Zanele Muholi (2021), Une avant-garde féministe des années 1970 (2022), or more recently Expo54 and La Pointe Courte by Agnès Varda (2023).